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The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes #10

Everything New Under The Sun

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Abby Hayes is an ordinary fifth grader trying to invent a role for herself in a seemingly perfect world. This series combines the edge of BRIDGET JONES with a send-up of self-help books.

Abby's best friend, Jessica, is away for the rest of the school year and Abby's other good friends seem to be spending more time with each other than they are with her. So when Grandma Emma invites Abby to come for a visit over spring vacation, Abby is thrilled--there has never been a better time to get away from home.

But Abby's cousin Cleo is also spending the week with Grandma Emma. At first, Abby and Cleo don't get along at all. But working as a team on a bookmaking project shows them how much they have in common and brings them closer together.

105 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

1 person is currently reading
247 people want to read

About the author

Anne Mazer

73 books102 followers
Quite a lot of Anne Mazer’s writing education took place while she was unconscious. Her parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. Every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing Anne heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters. The furious sound of typing was her childhood wake-up music. During the day, her parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before she was seven years old, Anne knew about revisions, first and second drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four hour, seven day a week writer’s boot camp.

In order to escape from her parents’ obsession with writing, Anne turned to books. She was an avid reader from an early age and credits her love of reading for her writing career. Her favorite works were fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, and adventure. Her other interests were language, art, history, and science. At the age of twelve, she wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as she realized that a) she couldn’t dance, b) she couldn’t act; and c) she hated math.

Although at the time Anne thought writing was nothing but a nuisance, she now considers herself very lucky to have grown up with two aspiring writers. She learned a lot about discipline, perseverance and dedication to a craft from witnessing her parents’ struggle. They eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.

It took Anne a long time to figure out that she, too, wanted to be a writer. During early adulthood, she worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that she was ill-suited for. She attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, traveled throughout Europe, and worked in Boston and New York City.

Anne’s “eureka” moment about writing came while she prepared a research report for one of her bosses. As she lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, she realized that no one really cared how beautifully she wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except her, of course.

Using her parents’ model of daily writing and discipline, she began to write. It took her seven years to publish her first book, a picture book inspired by her then two year old son, Max.

Anne is the mother of an adult son and daughter. Over the last twenty years, she has written over forty-five books for young readers. She has enough ideas to last for another quarter century and hopes that she will be writing for a very long time.

Fun Facts About Anne Mazer

Her favorite foods are popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.
When she was a kid, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.
If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.
She painted the rooms in her house yellow, orange, and violet.
One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.
When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)
In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.

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5 stars
243 (38%)
4 stars
195 (30%)
3 stars
158 (24%)
2 stars
30 (4%)
1 star
8 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Anne.
502 reviews611 followers
February 22, 2015
I remember being SO excited to read this one. It was unusual because the setting was different; instead of being Abby's house/her school, she was staying at her Grandma's with her cousin Cleo (or is it Chloe?). I remember really liking the banter and rivalry between the cousins, and all the adventures they had. It was a very fun book!
Profile Image for Rissa Flores.
299 reviews24 followers
January 26, 2013
Bought this book today at a sale (from Fully Booked). Only P50! I should really start stocking up on children's books that I can give to my little nieces and nephews when they're finally old enough to start reading. :)

Basically, this book is about friendship. Definitely a great read for kids.
15 reviews
Read
November 29, 2008
LOVE THIS BOOK IT IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK AND HOW FAMILY SHOULD GET ALONG TOGETHER.
10 reviews2 followers
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April 2, 2009
I think everyone should get a long even though if they are different or jealous or whatever.
Profile Image for Twyla.
1,766 reviews61 followers
April 10, 2012
Abby went to her gramas house and at the end they wanted to stAY THER All THe tiME.
Profile Image for Jessica.
477 reviews18 followers
August 7, 2022
childhood fav! Such a great series! super cute!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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